The next day at the hour of Mao, Xu Hui and Ye Bin called out all the women and children in the village, lit the stove to cook rice, poured all the grain into the pot and cooked it into a thick fragrant porridge, while steaming red potatoes and sweet potatoes in the steamer.

  Before long, Liu Ce, Sun Cheng, Yang Fan, Chen Qing, Hu Zi, Han Feng, Yang Kai Shan, Yang You Huai, Feng Ying, Feng Chou Nian and Qin Mo all arrived at the empty field. On the ground, 120 refugees sat cross-legged, each with three or four bundles wrapped in gray cloth or ceramic jars hanging from their waists. They grasped bamboo spears and square shields, gazing tensely at Liu Ce and his companions.

  One by one, the coarse and large sea bowls and three sweet potato tubers were distributed to each persons hands under the carrying of women and children, including Liu Ce and others who did not make any exceptions.

  The sound of slurping and drinking porridge quickly spread throughout the field, while the women, children, and elderly around them swallowed hard, but did not show any dissatisfaction. The men in this village were going to go out today and fight against the bandits with real swords and guns to rob food for survival, which was a good thing. Especially the families of those men who were selected to participate in the battle, they stood up straight with pride. Their wives and daughters looked at their husbands with reverence, what could be more proud than this?

  "Mom, I want to drink porridge too..." A tender voice rose from among the refugees, a six or seven year old child pulled his mothers hand and pointed at the porridge in his fathers hands.

  "Son, your father has gone out to kill the wicked today. When he comes back, he will bring us a lot of delicious food and Yuer will never go hungry again." The young woman squatted down and stroked the childs face, looking at her husband with an extraordinary sense of grandeur.

  After finishing the meal, they rested for about a quarter of an hour. By this time, the sun had gradually risen, and summer days always came especially early. Liu Ce stood up and walked up the steps, and the crowd below also got up with a rustling sound, holding their bamboo spears and shields in hand, waiting for Liu Ces orders.

  "Men! I, Liu Chao, am a simple man who doesnt understand grand principles. All I know is that a man lives for himself, not for the sake of some imperial court or aristocratic family. He lives to ensure his wife and children can eat their fill with dignity. Now, bandits are running rampant and the imperial court has abandoned us. Who can we rely on? Only ourselves! If youre a real man, take up your arms and follow me in fighting our way out of this village! Lets kill the bandits and seize food!"

  Liu Ces words made everyones blood boil with enthusiasm, and the refugees on the scene shouted in unison.

  "Kill the bandits and seize their grain! Kill the bandits and seize their grain! Kill the bandits and seize their grain!"

  Qin Mo and others behind him were also shocked, and they followed suit, waving their arms and shouting loudly. Chen Qing and Guo Tao were infected by the atmosphere, shouting along with the refugees, while Feng Qiu Nian shouted even louder, trying to drown out the voices of the crowd.

  "Depart!" Liu Ce swung his whip into the air, tightened his leather armor, and led 120 men out of the manor, slowly marching towards the bandit camp.

  "Qin brother, what do you think?" Ye Bin, Qin Mo and Xu Hui were left behind to organize several dozen refugees to guard the village.

  "I have a premonition that if one day he gains power, perhaps our ideals will be realized." Qin Mo stood on the stone wall in the villa, gazing at Liu Ce and his entourage as they departed, murmuring to himself.

  ……

  More than ten miles away, inside the bandit camp, it was quiet and still, with only a few tents transmitting snoring sounds. The sentry at the entrance of the camp was also leaning against the gate, sleeping like a dead dog...

  Sun San is a newly promoted sharp soldier of the bandits. Originally, he was just an ordinary tenant farmer who worked hard to make ends meet for the landlords family. Unexpectedly, five years ago, the bandits attacked his hometown and killed the landlords family. To survive, Sun San joined the bandits. In a flash, five years have passed, and he has become accustomed to his current life. Due to his bravery in battle and fearlessness of death, he gradually gained recognition from the bandit leaders, rising from an ordinary bandit to a soldier, and then to a sharp soldier after climbing over the walls of Gaoyang City more than a month ago. Overall, Sun San is still very satisfied. Those landlords and wealthy families who used to look down on him now kneel at his feet begging for mercy. Especially those young ladies from big households who he never dared to think about before are now at his beck and call, being ridden, ordered around, and beaten at will. Thinking of this, Sun San smiled to himself, turned over, and thought that this is the life he should be living. Would he go back to farming even if given hundreds of acres of land? No way!

  "My goodness, Im going to suffocate!" As he thought about it, he felt a pang of discomfort in his lower body. He got up and walked barefoot out of the tent, pulling open the flap. A blinding light rushed in, and Sun San squinted as he ran to the corner of the campsite. He undid his belt and a sound of rushing water came from below, "Ah!" he exclaimed, his expression one of utter bliss.

  After finishing urinating, Sun San glanced at the guards lying horizontally and vertically at the camp gate, hummed a sound, pulled up his pants, tied his belt while walking over, came to a sentry with a mouthful of spittle, and kicked him in the body with one foot.

  "What the...! Who kicked me? Ah, its you, Master Sun!" The guard, who had been kicked awake and was in pain, was about to scold, but when he saw that it was Sanzi, he immediately changed his expression and smiled obsequiously, with a hint of jealousy and coldness flashing in his eyes...

  "Sleeping like a pig, what if the government troops come to kill?" Sun San tried his best to put on a stern expression of a high-ranking general and severely scolded the sentry soldier.

  "Yes, yes, yes, Master Suns teachings are right, but my brothers and I are really too tired, just taking a nap, Master Sun please dont blame us. Get up, all of you get up, stop sleeping." The rascal bowed his head and hastily called out to the sentry who was sleeping soundly on the side, looking at Sun San with a flattering expression.

  Sun San nodded in satisfaction, glanced at them, snorted and spat on the ground, saying: "A bunch of useless things, guard well, dont let the government soldiers sneak over!" After finishing speaking, he turned around without looking back and walked towards his own tent, planning to take another nap. Although it was approaching September, the weather was still a bit sultry, and standing outside was still very uncomfortable.

  "Cut it out, whats wrong with you, pretending to be a good guy, just became a sharp soldier for a few days and now youre teaching me? One of these days youll fall into my hands, then youll be in trouble." Seeing Sun San enter the tent, the scolded sentinel viciously expressed his dissatisfaction to the other bandits, who nodded in agreement, their eyes filled with hostility towards Sun Sans tent.

  "Alright, go back to sleep. Its been over a dozen days already, and there are no government troops around here anymore. If there were any, they would have killed us long ago, why wait until now?" After finishing speaking, the sentry tossed aside the short spear in his hand and lay down again at the entrance of the camp, closing his eyes to prepare for sleep.

  At this moment, hundreds of black dots appeared on the mountain slope three or four miles ahead, slowly moving towards the bandit camp. Those bandits who had just lain down immediately got up and hastily called out to the drowsy sentry, exchanging suspicious glances with each other.

  "Are there grain transport brothers passing by today?"

  "How can you transport grain without even bringing a single cart?"

  "Could it be that some leader of the bandits has passed through this place?"

  "Or shall we ring the bell and wake everyone up?"

  "Youre stupid, now even if the one whos ringing the gong isnt an official soldier, youll still get a good beating, take another look."

  Everyone was at a loss for words in the face of this situation, if it were really government soldiers, then they would be in trouble. Although the bandits momentum had been strong recently, especially after taking down Gao Yang City, morale had reached an all-time high, but deep down, these refugees still feared the government army.

  "Alright, dont say anything more." The bandit who was kicked got up and brushed off the dirt on his body. "You all keep a good eye out, Ill go ask General for further instructions." After saying that, he ran quickly towards a huge tent in the center of the camp.

  Hu Wei was the "commander" of this camp, who had voluntarily joined the bandits ten years ago and fought his way to his current position. After capturing Gaoyang City, he was assigned to manage this granary stronghold. Now, in the bandit camp, regardless of their size or rank, all leaders liked to be called "General" by their subordinates to show off their noble status. At this moment, inside the "Generals" tent, Hu Wei lay almost naked on a large, high-backed reclining chair in front of his desk, snoring loudly. In the corner of the tent, two beautiful girls, about 17 or 18 years old, huddled together with disheveled hair and torn clothes, sobbing uncontrollably. The air inside the tent was filled with a nauseating smell.

  The scout thief at the entrance of the account lightly called out a few times, seeing no reaction, then pulled open the account and tiptoed past. He caught sight of two girls to one side, his eyes lit up, and he swallowed hard. He suppressed his urge and came to Hu Weis side, where snores were thundering, making his own eardrums tingle. Taking a deep breath, he gently pushed Hu Wei with his hand and said in a low voice: "General Hu, there is military news to report..."

  But Hu Kui was still sleeping soundly, and since the fall of Gaoyang, no government soldiers had come to attack or rescue them. Many high-ranking generals were on guard. You are currently reading "Yi Jie Feng Huo Lu" Chapter 22, only half a chapter is available here. To read the full version, please search for it on Baidu: () and then search again for "Yi Jie Feng Huo Lu".